AeroSvit R11: Rublevsky wins, Ivanchuk second

6/29/2006 – The AeroSvit tournament in Foros ended with draws by all top boards, giving Russian GM Sergei Rublevsky undivided first, with 7.5/11 and a 2824 performance. Second was Ukrainian perennial Vassily Ivanchuk, with 7/11 and a 2784 performance. We bring you all results, games and a special report on the Crimean venue.

The Aerosvit International GM tournament is taking place in from June
16 to 29, 2006, in Foros/Yalta, the southern-most part of the Crimean peninsula
of Ukraine. It is a category 18 event with 12 GMs rated 2600 or higher. Time
controls are 120 minutes for the entire game, with an increment of 30 sec.
per move. In case of a tie the final places are determined by the result of
the direct encounter; then Sonneborn-Berger; and finally the number of won
games.

Round eleven report by GM Mikhail Golubev

Grischuk – Rublevsky ½:½In the Sicilian Taimanov White played a rare 5.Nc3 a6 6.f3!?. On the
13th move Grischuk sacrificed a knight: 13.Ndxb5. A correctness of this idea
is under question. After 16.Bf2 Rublevsky accepted Grischuk's draw offer. The
final position is quite complex, but Black is at least not worse. Rublevsky
considered 16...Qd8 17.Nxd6+ Bxd6 18.Qxd6 Qxd6 19.Rxd6 Bxe4 20.Bg3!? to be
a main line. But maybe he underestimated Black's chances in the line 16...Qc6
17.Na7 Nc4 18.Bxc4 Qxc4 19.Nxc8 Qxc8 20.c4!? with the idea 20...Qxc4 21.Rc1.
(Earlier, When Grischuk sacrificed his knight, he missed that 16.Nxd6+? Bxd6
17.Qxd6 is refuted by 17...Nc6!). 0.5 - 0.5

Ivanchuk – Shirov ½:½The old rivals! The score in their previous classic encounters is
(approximately) +13 =17 –4 in Ivanchuk's favour. Ruy Lopez, the acute
Neo-Arkhangelsk Variation. Shirov played 13...d5, following the game Topalov-Shirov,
Wijk aan Zee 1996. Ivanchuk deviated from that game by playing 14.h3. After
16.Bg5! (a novelty) Ivanchuk stands clearly better. After all, opponents entered
into endgame with an extra exchange for Ivanchuk. Shirov preserved chances
for a draw. Finally, Black has managed to built up the fortress.

Mamedyarov – Bologan ½:½A quick draw in the King's Indian Defence. Bologan, in his own words,
prepared for the game during five hours. But his opponent, who had White, was
in the peaceful mood.

Areshchenko – Harikrishna ½:½"The Giuoco Piano. On the 15th move White could win a pawn, but
after 15.fxe3 Qxd6 16.Ne4 Qg6 17.Nxg5 Qxg5 18.e4 Qg6 Black has some compensation.
Instead, Areshchenko played 15.Ne4 with a slight advantage. By the move 22
Harikrishna equalised, but opponents fought for two more dozens of moves.

Ponomariov – Nisipeanu ½:½A rare line of the Scheveningen: 10...Nxd4 11.Qxd4 b6. The game quickly
transposed into an endgame with a slim White's advantage. Ponomariov tried
to win, but without success.

Karjakin – Volokitin 1-0A classical main line of the Ruy Lopez; Black played 9...Nd7 (sometimes
called the Karpov Variation). Instead of the most common 15...Ba6, Volokitin
sacrificed a pawn by 15...c6!?. His 19th move (19...Rd8) is a sensible novelty.
Black obtained a more active position. It is hard to judge, however, whether
the compensation for the pawn is fully sufficient - White has no weaknesses.
After 29.Qxc5 White's advantage became obvious. (Probably Black could play
stronger before: e.g. 26...Qa6, 24...Be7, 23...Bh6.) In desperation, Volokitin
sacrificed a rook: 29...Rd1!?. Soon, White returned a rook, obtaining the queen
endgame with a "healthy" extra pawn. 36.Rd2! was an important move.
(Instead, 36.Ke4? fails to 36...Qh1+!). Finally, Karjakin achieved his first
victory!

Notes from the official web site

Final standings

Official
web site: this is functionally well designed and has live games
(with a special viewer that has to be installed), comments, partially captioned
photos and other useful services.

Chess vacation in Crimea

By Olena Boytsun

I have always seen chess tournaments as a great reason to travel to places
with a definite goal. You have never been to the Netherlands or never touched
the North Sea? Then simply visit the Wijk-ann-Zee Corus Chess tournament in
January. If you have never heard about the regional development projects of
the Ruhr region in Germany, you must come to Dortmund Sparkassen Meeting in
July. To experience the white nights, when the sun is always shining, you should
rush right now to the Norwegian town of Tromsø.
You can plan a trip to Mexico for Autumn 2007, because that’s when the
World Chess Championship Tournament will be held there. And if you want to
see beautiful natural scenery, take sun baths, go on cave expeditions, climb
mountains, swim in the sea, visit historical places, do something for your
health, and in addition visit a strong chess tournament with top players participating,
I am afraid, you have only one option. Go to the peninsula of Crimea in Ukraine.

The river Dnepr (or Dnipro in Ukrainian, or sometimes Dnieper), clearly visible
in the Google Earth satellite map above, is 2285 km long, which makes it one
of the longest rivers in Europe. During the boat trip you can enjoy the incredible
views of the Ukrainian landscape and will have a lot of time to play chess
as well.

In Crimea you can not only swim in the Sea, but also explore mountains. They
are about 10 km from the sea along the southern coast, with the rest of the
Crimean peninsula consisting of prairie lands. I would also suggest you take
a river tour by boat to Kiev.

The region is also known as the Autonomous Republic of Crimea – in Ukrainian:
Крим, Автономна
Республіка Крим
– Avtonomna Respublika Krym) and lies on the northern coast of the Black
Sea. The population is two million inhabitants, the capital is the city of
Simferopol.

The first strong chess tournament in Foros is over. It was an interesting
tournament, full of excitement and emotions. Everybody hopes that the sponsor
“AeroSvit”, the leading Ukrainian airline company, will continue
to host the chess event for the great pleasure of the chess world. And then,
next time, next year, you should not miss the opportunity to explore the Ukrainian
Crimea.

Foros, where the AeroSvit tournament was held, is a small village situated
about 40 km from Yalta, in the southern part of Crimea. The climate conditions
are gorgeous. Foros is the place were the dacha (summer-house) of the President
of Ukraine is situated. The Russian writer Maxim Gorkiy lived and worked for
some time in Foros. Today Ukrainian politicians and businessmen own summer
houses there. Students spend their summers in Foros. There is the orthodox
Foros Church and a beautiful national park. What is also good in Foros –
you spell the name of the village exactly the way you pronounce it –
F-o-r-o-s.

When you are in Crimea, don’t forget to visit Yalta as well, the most
famous city of Crimea. It’s just 40 km away, and you can enjoy the great
spirit of the seaside city, which has so many vineyards and orchards. The world-famous
Yalta Conference was held at the Livadia Palace in 1945.

Churchill, Roosevelt, Stalin in Yalta, 1945

Walking through the city you can meet chess lovers, playing or offering chess
lessons for the children “aged from 2 till 99 years”. It was in
Yalta that the match Kasparov-Ponomariov was going to be held.

A chess teacher in Yalta

So, if you plan vacations for the next year June, please, don’t forget
to ask your travel agent about Crimea as well. At least, ask. And even if you
are not interested in Ukraine, don’t give up the idea of chess traveling.

See also

6/27/2006 – Which means that nothing has changes on the table, which has Rublevsky leading by half a point, with one round to go. The shortest game was a 23-mover between Nisipeanu and Karjakin, the longest were Bologan's 78-move save against Grischuk and Shirov's 89-move escape against Areshchenko. Report.Discuss

6/26/2006 – Rublevsky and Ivanchuk both drew their games and kept their first and second places. Grischuk and Shirov won their games, both moving into the positive performance zone. At the end of the table are three Ukraines – Ponomariov, Volokitin, Karjakin – and India's Harikrishna. Report with performance statistics.Discuss

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